Alonzo e



(No Model.)

. A. R. .BOYNTON & W. G. LOGKE.

DEVICE FOR MAKING BUTTON-MAKING MOLDS.

Patented May 9, 1882.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

ALONZO R. BOYNTON AND YVILLIAM U. LOOKE, ()F AUBURN, NEYV YORK, ASSIGNORS TO DRIGGS, MOSHER & (.30., ()F SAME PLACE.

DEVICE FOR MAKING BUTTON-MAKING MOLDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,464, dated May 9, 1882,

Application filed August 18, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, ALONZO R. BOYNTON and VVILLIAM G. LocKE,'both of Auburn, in the county of Cayuga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Making Dies for Forming Buttons of Plastic Material, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents in perspective a transfer-plate used with our improvements, said transfer-plate resting upon the bottom die-. plate of a mold for making buttons. There is also shown a guide-plug and drilling-bit to assistin givingform to said die-plate. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of the same through one row of holes, guide'plug, and bit. Fig. 3 is a top view of the bottom die-plate having some of its button-matrices completed and othersincompleted. Fig. 4 is a transverse section ofthe incomplete bottom die-plate, taken between the button-matrices in tapering cavities made to receive surplus material. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the tool used in forming the rim of the button-matrices. Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the same in perspective. Fig. 7 is a vertical central section of the same.

Our invention relates to the art of making dies for forming buttons of sheets of plastic material, and tothe tools for making said dies in a correct and expeditious manner.

Heretofore it has been a slow and expensive operation to prepare a pair of these dies, on account of the extreme care necessary to have the circular edge of each matrix forming the back of a button (on a plate containing perhaps a hundred of them) coincide exactly with the circular edge of each matrix forming the front of a button in the second plate of the pair, to obviate theformation of any fins upon the circular edge of the button.

The object of our invention is to produce molds for making buttons of large. or small sheets of plastic material, in which molds the edges of each pair of matrices will exactly coincide all around their circumference, and to produce these molds at a much reduced cost.

Our invention consists in combining with the top or bottom die-plates of a button-mold and a transfer-plate provided with any desired number ot'holes, (corresponding with the number of buttons to be molded at a time,) and adapted to be secured to said top and bottom plates, a perforated guide-plug made to lit the holes in the transferplate, and a drilling-bit made to fit in the perforation ofthe guide-plug.

In the drawings, Brepresents the die-plate to be used (after completion) to mold the bot.- tom of buttons, and U is a plate having a series of regularly -spaced perforations, 0, used as guides in drilling the plate B. These plates are shown as united by dowel-pins a to retain them immovably together while a. series of shallow holes, b,corresponding with the center of the perforationsc, are to be drilled therein. To find the center of the comparatively large perforations c, a plug, D, is used. This plug fits theinterior of each hole 0. It is bored through its center to receive a drilling-bit, E, and its milled head extends enough above the plate 0 to be readily grasped and the plug transferred.

from oneof the holes a tothe other. The stem of the bit E fits the bore in the plug D, and thus the plate B has the shallow holes I) drilled therein in the same order as they were first made in the transfer-plate C. After all the shallow holes I) have been made in the dieplate B the transfer-plate O is removed. The next operation consists in cutting a circular groove, (1, in the face of the die-plate around each one of the holes I), but at such a distance therefrom that the inner edge of said groove will form the rim of the matrix of each button. For this purpose the tool shown in Figs. 5, 6,aud 7 is used. It difi'ersfrom cutter-heads now in use only in details of construction as hereinafter described. It has a flat-pointed spindle, F, having its lower end,f, turned to fit in the shallow holes I) of the die-plate and sufficiently hardened not to perceptibly wear while in use. This spindle is placed in the center of a cutter-head, G, provided with a.

hollow stem, G, the upper part of which is internally screw-threaded to receive and be connected to the hollow spindle G The stem G collar at one end and at the other against the upper end of the cavity in the hollow spindle.

G The cutter-head G has two radial grooves in its under face, within which is placed either the stem 2' of the cutter-tool z" or the hoiderj of the cutter-tool the latter tool being made ofa small piece of round bar-steel secured with the screw j the stem z'or holderj being retained at any desired distance from the center ofthe cutter-head by screws 7t: passing through slotsgin said cutter-head. After having cut the circular grooves d in the face of the dieplate the transfer or guide plate 0 is again placed upon said die-plate and retained thereon by the dowel-pin (t. A drill having its diameter of the same size as the hole 0 and provided with preferably four cutting-edges of the form intended for the bottom ot' the buttons is introduced into each one of the holes 0 in succession and. the pre\'*ionsly-made shallow holes I) are enlarged, producing the saucerlike cavities or matrices b, with sharp edges b forgiving form to the buttons. The metal between the matrix is then drilled out, producing cavities I) to receive the surplus plastic material of the sheets used in forming these buttons when said material is squeezed between thetopand bottom die-plates ofthemold.

By the above-described means we obtain dies for pressing buttons of plastic material having a more correct and uniform shape than heretofore, and at a muehrcduced cost.

Having now fully described our invention, we claim- 1. As a means to facilitate andimprove the making of molds for buttons, at transfer-plate provided with dowel-pins a and a series of holes, a, of a size equal to orlarger than the buttons to be molded, in combination with a hollow guide-plug, D, made to fit within the holes 0, and a drill, E, in said guide-plug, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the yielding spindle I", having its outer end fiat and turned atfto the desired size, and the cntter-head G, having grooves in its under face, with the interchangeable cutters i and j, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

ALONZO R. BOYNTON. \VILLIAM O. LOOKE.

Witnesses:

G. M. WA'rsoN, WM. J. SUTTON. 

